December 4, 2016

For some reason I associate “Giga” with “Gigabytes” and storage media like Flash drives, which explains this joke image.

Over the past two years there have been quite a few updates to the genera of the cicadas that were organized under the Tibicen genus earlier this decade.

The most recent paper by Young June Lee introduces the genera Gigatibicen, Ameritibicen, and Paratibicen1. Earlier this year there was a paper by Allen Sanborn and Maxine Heath that introduced the genus Megatibicen 3, and in 2015 there was a paper by Kathy Hill and others that introduced Neotibicen and Hadoa 2.

See the end of the article for links to these papers, and related articles on CicadaMania.com.

The table below shows the names/synonyms (sub species have been removed to keep the table compact):

(Tibicen circa 2014)

Hill (2015)2

Sanborn, Heath (2016)3

Lee (2016)1

Tibicen auletes

Neotibicen auletes

Megatibicen auletes

Gigatibicen auletes

Tibicen auriferus

Neotibicen auriferus

no change

no change

Tibicen canicularis

Neotibicen canicularis

no change

no change

Tibicen cultriformis

Neotibicen cultriformis

Megatibicen cultriformis

Ameritibicen cultriformis

Tibicen davisi davisi

Neotibicen davisi

no change

no change

Tibicen dealbatus

Neotibicen dealbatus

Megatibicen dealbatus

Ameritibicen dealbatus

Tibicen dorsatus

Neotibicen dorsatus

Megatibicen dorsatus

Ameritibicen dorsatus

Tibicen figuratus

Neotibicen figuratus

Megatibicen figuratus

Ameritibicen figuratus

Tibicen latifasciatus

Neotibicen latifasciatus

no change

no change

Tibicen linnei

Neotibicen linnei

no change

no change

Tibicen lyricen engelhardti

Neotibicen lyricen

no change

no change

Tibicen pronotalis pronotalis

Neotibicen pronotalis

Megatibicen pronotalis

Ameritibicen pronotalis

Tibicen pruinosus fulvus

Neotibicen pruinosus

no change

no change

Tibicen resh

Neotibicen resh

Megatibicen resh

Gigatibicen resh

Tibicen resonans

Neotibicen resonans

Megatibicen resonans

Gigatibicen resonans

Tibicen robinsonianus

Neotibicen robinsonianus

no change

no change

Tibicen similaris

Neotibicen similaris

no change

Paratibicen similaris

Tibicen superbus

Neotibicen superbus

no change

no change

Tibicen tibicen australis

Neotibicen tibicen

no change

no change

Tibicen tremulus

Neotibicen tremulus

Megatibicen tremulus

Ameritibicen tremulus

Tibicen winnemanna

Neotibicen winnemanna

no change

no change

Tibicen bifidus

Hadoa bifida

no change

no change

Tibicen chiricahua

Hadoa chiricahua

no change

no change

Tibicen duryi

Hadoa duryi

no change

no change

Tibicen inauditus

Hadoa inaudita

no change

no change

Tibicen longioperculus

Hadoa longiopercula

no change

no change

Tibicen neomexicensis

Hadoa neomexicensis

no change

no change

Tibicen parallelus

Hadoa parallela

no change

no change

Tibicen simplex

Hadoa simplex

no change

no change

Tibicen texanus

Hadoa texana

no change

no change

Tibicen townsendii

Hadoa townsendii

no change

no change

1 Lee, Y.J. 2016. Description of three new genera, Paratibicen, Gigatibicen, and Ameritibicen, of Cryptotympanini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) and a key to their species Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity, Volume 9, Issue 4, 1 December 2016, Pages 448–454. Link to Paper.

2 Hill, et al. 2015. Molecular phylogenetics, diversification, and systematics of Tibicen Latreille 1825 and allied cicadas of the tribe Cryptotympanini, with three new genera and emphasis on species from the USA and Canada (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae), Zootaxa, Volume 3985, Issue 2, Pages 219–251. Link to Paper

September 15, 2016

Once September rolls around in New Jersey (USA) temperatures start to drop, as do the cicadas. Labor Day weekend is a three day last hurrah for the summer. Folks have barbecues, take one last trip to the beach, or one last fishing trip to the lake. It’s one last chance to have some fun before the kids go back to school, the weather gets too cold to wear shorts, and hurricanes start ripping up the coastline. This past Labor Day weekend I found myself at Washington Crossing State Park in Titusville, NJ. You might have guessed that this park marks the location where founding father General George Washington famously crossed the Delaware River. I think of it was a place to find Neotibicen linnei and Neotibicen winnemanna in the same location.

Some video of their calls:

N. linnei and N. winnemanna belong to the “Green Group” of Neotibicen cicadas. All the cicadas in this group look very similar, and you have to tell them apart by their song or key morphological differences. Even with sound files of their songs to reference, photos and notes, telling them apart can be vexing and bemusing. In some cases species mate and form hybrids which make it even more difficult to tell them apart.

Probably an N. linnei although it lacks the wing bend. More black than beige, although that isn’t always a sure indicator of species.

Definitely an N. winnemanna because of all the beige on its abdomen. Yes, its head is missing,

After wandering the park for a few hours I was rewarded with a few dead specimens. One with eggs still stuck to its ovipositor, which was neat to see. I also recorded their calls — unfortunately no hybrids in the mix.

Part of the fun of traveling to see cicadas is visiting the place where the cicadas live. Washington Crossing State Park is far from the industry and urban decay New Jersey is known for. If you like scenic rivers, pastoral landscapes, American history, farmers markets, and antique stores, this area is for you. For me, it’s a nice place to observe cicadas. The park features many acres of deciduous and evergreen trees, perfect for cicadas. You can also walk the bridge to the Pennsylvania side of the river, where you’ll find more N. winnemanna than N. linnei.

Cicadas will be done mating before the end of September (actual date differs by location), and start dropping from the trees before the leaves being to change color. Go out this weekend and look and listen for the last cicadas of the year.

August 29, 2016

This is a Neotibicen latifasciatus (Davis, 1915) commonly known as the Coastal Scissor Grinder, locally known as a Yodeling Cedar Sucker in Florida and Beach Banshee in North Carolina 3:

Dorsal view of two latifasciatus males.

The holotype — a single type specimen on which the description of a new species is based — for the cicada Neotibicen latifasciatus was gathered from Cold Spring, Cape May County1. I feel that N. latifasciatus needs a common name indicative of Cape May, New Jersey. Here are my ideas:

Cape May Crooner

Cape May Crier

Cape May Car Alarm

Shore Shrieker

Woodbine Warbler

South Jersey Shore Screamer

The last one is my favorite (changed it to South ;))

N. latifasciatus is a cicada found along the east coast of the United States, and is known for its preference for cedar trees. It can be found in New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia2, Florida and points in between3. Its affinity for cedar trees (plus its distinct call) makes it relatively easy to locate and capture — if you’re willing to get a little messy climbing through the thick & sticky branches of a cedar tree. A thin mist of sap from the cedar seems to coat the wings of these cicadas, and it’s worth mentioning that their wings are often torn and ragged, probably resulting from the thick cedar foliage.

When William T. Davis first described N. latifasciatus in 19154, he described it as a variety of Cicada pruinosa (now Neotibicen pruinosus pruinosus). This is understandable, since they sound very much alike, and look alike except for the the white bands on the sides of the latifasciatus, some other minor morphological differences, and habitats. pruinosus, latifasciatus, winnemanna, linnei, canicularis, and robinsonianus are collectively known as the Green [Neo]tibicen Species3 or simply “the Green Group”.They’re called Green because much of their heads, collars, pronotums and mesonotums are green in color.

On Saturday, August 20th, 2016, I met Elias Bonaros and Annette DeGiovine-Oliveira in Middle Township, Cape May County to search for latifasciatus. I arrived before they did and located a relatively quiet road lined with cedar trees, filled with screaming latifasciatus. From the outside cedars resemble twisting green fire; on the inside they’re a mess of tightly-packed, dirty branches — perfect for an insect to hide. The road and trees were surrounded by briny marshland, less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean. Other than cicadas, there were an abundance of annoying greenhead flies (Tabanus nigrovittatus), and not annoying at all katydids. The temperature was in the mid 80s, the air was humid, the sun was brutal, and the flies thought I was delicious. In the 5 hours we spent photographing and gathering specimens, I drank a gallon of water. Elias handled cicada procurement duties, and Annette and I recorded the cicadas’ song and habitat.

Here’s a video summary of our adventure:

After a satisfying lunch, I went looking for other locations and found a very different but prime in-land location with taller cedar (Red and White varieties) in Woodbine Borough. There we found many exuvia, which we did not find at the other location, and heard not only latifasciatus, but also N. linnei, N. tibicen tibicen, N. canicularis, and N. auletes. Around 9pm, and almost 12 hours of cicada field-work, I called it quits. Elias and Annette stuck around and were able to observe molting latifasciatus.

The ventral side a male Neotibicen latifasciatus:This cicada was captured using the “clap” method of netting cicadas. This method involves two people using two nets, surrounding the cicada so it can’t find an escape path.

I would be remiss if I did not mention how delightful the people of Cape May County are. All the folks we encountered were pleasantly curious or encouraging about our cicada research activities. They also have “Custard” shops instead of Ice Cream shops.

4 Davis WT. 1915a. Notes on some cicadas from the eastern and central United States with a description of a new variety of Cicada pruinosa. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 23: 1–10. (see the North American Cicadas page)

July 13, 2015

Elias Bonaros shared these photos of Neocicada hieroglyphica that he observed emerging in Riverhead, Long Island, New York, which is the north-most point of their range, as documented by William T. Davis.

They were taken today, July 13th, 2015.

Here is the Neocicada hieroglyphica hieroglyphica exiting its nymphal skin.